Sep 29 Wurrly Team Member and Music Producer Tal Meltzer Writes hit record “Enchanté” for Fergie’s Latest Album “Double Dutchess”!

The Deets on Tal Meltzer

Born and raised in Southern California, Tal Meltzer studied Music Business at USC. While in his senior year, he founded a DJ/Production group called FIXYN which would go on to tour the US and remix songs for acclaimed artists, gathering millions of plays worldwide. Shortly after graduating from USC, he signed with Mike Caren’s prestigious publishing company: Artist Publishing Group. He has since worked with acclaimed artists such as Train, Kiesza, Beck, Cash Cash, and more as well as receiving a Gold Record in recognition of his work on “Moon Trance” by Lindsey Stirling. He continues to write and produce with top artists and writers in the industry under the name Nineteen90 as well running SuperX Studios in Hollywood, California.

Interview Time!

Tell me a little bit about how you started getting involved with music.

"I started playing the guitar at 11 and I have been writing songs since I was a kid. I have an older sister and a younger sister, so my first album was the Spice Girls Album *laughs*. For me, to get to write for a boy band would be the coolest thing in the world. I was listening to Fergie with my sister when I was in High School! At the same time I have also been very into punk- rock….two completely different genres. I am a huge Blink-182 and GreenDay fan. I learned how to write my songs from pop/punk. I learned structure, all the kids I grew up with were listening to classic rock, just trying to learn solos, but I was more interested in learning as many chords as possible and how to write a song."

How did you get involved with producing a song for Fergie’s album?

"The way this song happened began with an email from my manager at the time who gave me an accapella from Fergie and I was asked to make a beat around that. I worked with my usual collaborators. First we focused on getting the verse to sound cool. She wanted it to sound modern and electronic. Actually, I originally did a drop that I thought was really cool but then she told me to make it sound more tropical so I went in that direction."

Did you get the chance to meet Fergie?

"We went back and forth on email, I never actually met her. It’s 2017, she’s traveling all the time. But I like working like that...don’t get me wrong I love to write a song from scratch but sometimes it’s more fun to get an accapella and do your own thing with it."

When did you start working on this record and when did it release?

"We started writing it about a year ago. I got the “Ok” that it was going to happen around Thanksgiving of last year. The album was supposed to come out soon after. She had been working on this album for 11 years but there had been all these hiccups so it had never gotten released...

I didn't hear anything from anyone for months so at that point it was just a waiting game. I then found out she got dropped from Interscope Records so I assumed the song was never coming out. About a month ago I read on twitter that album was coming out. I just remember thinking I hope they didn't cut my song!

Then the album leaked and I saw that my song was on there. When the album leaked that was the first time I heard their mix of Enchanté, which was a little different than mine so it took some getting used. On top of that she had her son sing on it which I had no idea about and I thought that sounded really cool."

Fergie "Double Dutchess" Album

Any Inspiration behind your creation of the track?

"The verse was very Mura Masa inspired which was all I was listening to at the time."

Where were you when you first heard Enchanté?

"Well, the first time I heard it was from the leak, and I was at my studio but I was curious if it was the final version. Her whole album is a visual album where every song has a music video. She was premiering the visuals at iPic Theatres across the US. I got tickets for the one premiering near me in Westwood, Los Angeles but then I realized that week was the Jewish New Year. I didn’t want to start the Jewish new year off with upsetting my mom of course, so I ended up giving my collaborator the tickets. He ended up sitting right in front of Josh Duhamel and their son! I was super jealous."

Did you know Kendall Jenner was going to star in the video before it came out?

"I knew Kendall Jenner was in the video because she had teased a small clip of it on her social media the day before but I couldn’t see the full video yet. This was on a Wednesday and Fergie’s album was out on that Friday. Between that time I hadn’t seen the full video and I hadn’t heard the official version of the song. Friday Morning I woke up and went straight to Target to go buy the album, the coolest feeling in the world. They were advertising it there and had three rows of the album and I got the last one. I thought that was a good sign. I opened up the album and found my name in it which is always a humbling and gratifying experience. You know, these little things were my dreams growing up...

The music video came out that day as well and because Kendall Jenner was the star it got huge. It received around one million plays in 24 hours. It had one million plays on Youtube already but when Kendall posted it on Instagram it received over 5 million in 12 hours which definitely helped."

How do you feel about this accomplishment?

"It’s definitely very humbling. To get to play a small part in something that has such a large global presence is a bit surreal. Obviously, you always hope it becomes a single and takes off- that’s the goal. But I’ve learned that you have to take a step back and look at the things you’ve accomplished and appreciate it, even if there’s more you want to accomplish...

At the same time, she's doing a bunch of press on various morning shows for the album. It’s number one in pop in the US and the album was also number one in New Zealand which feels great in itself."

Have you ever experienced this before?

"I have worked with a lot of big artists but as a producer and songwriter you work with a lot of artists and the songs never come out. I have a song I worked on with Beck, it has his vocals on it, that no one is ever going to hear which can be frustrating...

You definitely want to find a balance. When I first started, I was a remixer/DJ. I was constantly putting music out which helps your ego. You put a song out and it goes #1 on all the blogs and you feel like the man! But then I went into pop and sort of stopped doing the artist thing. All of a sudden it's a few years later and I haven't put a single song out yet I've written over 300. That is where this career can start to become frustrating and depressing. You start to feel like you aren't as good anymore because none of your music is coming out...

It is very important to keep that balance if you can. I like to go back to making remixes and releasing songs because it generates more calls from pop artist because they see my name. Your name needs to be out there on the internet."

Do you have any projects you're currently working on?

"I got really close to doing a full album last year but had some personal issues get in the way. Now I've been working on a couple of different projects. I love the songs but I am not sure who could pull them off or who would take them but I still want them to come out. Now we're talking about doing some kind of artist project with that."

Wurrly Inspiration

After speaking with Tal, I enjoyed his down to earth nature and the knowledge and experiences he shared that i’m sure many songwriters and producers can relate to. His success is inspirational! If you work hard at what you love a victory is bound to come your way. The Wurrly Team is excited to see Tal’s successful journey in the music industry!